English

Pairing Pythagorean Pairs

Number Theory 2021-01-21 v1

Abstract

A pair (a,b)(a, b) of positive integers is a pythagorean pair if a2+b2=a^2 + b^2 = \Box (i.e., a2+b2a^2 + b^2 is a square). A pythagorean pair (a,b)(a, b) is called a double-pythapotent pair if there is another pythagorean pair (k,l)(k,l) such that (ak,bl)(ak,bl) is a pythagorean pair, and it is called a quadratic pythapotent pair if there is another pythagorean pair (k,l)(k,l) which is not a multiple of (a,b)(a,b), such that (a2k,b2l)(a^2k,b^2l) is a pythagorean pair. To each pythagorean pair (a,b)(a, b) we assign an elliptic curve Γa,b\Gamma_{a,b} with torsion group Z/2Z×Z/4Z\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z\times\mathbb Z/4\mathbb Z, such that Γa,b\Gamma_{a,b} has positive rank if and only if (a,b)(a, b) is a double-pythapotent pair. Similarly, to each pythagorean pair (a,b)(a, b) we assign an elliptic curve Γa2,b2\Gamma_{a^2 ,b^2} with torsion group Z/2Z×Z/8Z\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z\times\mathbb Z/8\mathbb Z, such that Γa2,b2\Gamma_{a^2,b^2} has positive rank if and only if (a,b)(a,b) is a quadratic pythapotent pair. Moreover, in the later case we obtain that every elliptic curve Γ\Gamma with torsion group Z/2Z×Z/8Z\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z\times\mathbb Z/8\mathbb Z is isomorphic to a curve of the form Γa2,b2\Gamma_{a^2 ,b^2} , where (a,b)(a,b) is a pythagorean pair. As a side-result we get that if (a,b)(a,b) is a double-pythapotent pair, then there are infinitely many pythagorean pairs (k,l)(k, l), not multiples of each other, such that (ak,bl)(ak, bl) is a pythagorean pair; the analogous result holds for quadratic pythapotent pairs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2101.08163,
  title  = {Pairing Pythagorean Pairs},
  author = {Lorenz Halbeisen and Norbert Hungerbühler},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.08163},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

11 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-23T22:21:22.078Z